The Boy on Fire
by Pawprinter
Summary: Peeta is dying, he's sure of it. And that would be okay, as he died protecting the thing he loves most; Katniss. Now, it is her turn to repay him for his sacrifice by taking care of him and risking her life. It is said she views it as a survival strategy, but Peeta views Katniss as so much more than a ticket out of the arena.


**Hey! It's Pawprinter. A few years back, I posted this story. I took it down due to trying to clean up my profile, but I recently stumbled across it and decided to repost.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with The Hunger Games.**

 **I hope you like it!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **xXx**

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 **The Boy on Fire**

 ** _The Hunger Games - Chapter 19_**

 **First Person Point of View - Peeta's Point of View**

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Pain. It's all that's going through my head. My leg is in so much pain, but considerately less after Katniss cleaned it. My arm's searing with pain, and my whole body's burning and tearing with a great deal of pain.

It's when I'm put in the corner of the small cave that my mind starts clearing the pain away, pushing the pain to the corner of my mind, away from my main thoughts. The temperature's neutral in the corner, but I'm not paying too much attention to that.

I watch Katniss climb in and out of the cave collecting pine needles, leaves, and dirt. She puts a thin layer over the cold, stony floor.

I can't help but notice the way her forehead has the little crease when she's working, or the way her eyes flicker towards the cave opening, or the way I can tell her eyes find my useless form every few minutes.

It's the eighth time when I catch her looking at my direction when I smile. I would have smiled through my dying moments for her, just for her. Only for her.

Then it's the twelfth time she looks at me through her eyelashes when she smiles back at me. I feel the butterflies in my stomach start flying.

Pathetic.

Katniss shakes her head with a small smile on her lips, like she's just thought of a funny thought. She walks over to our packs beside me and pulls out a sleeping bag. She rolls it out beside me and pats some fluff off of it. She turns to me with a pained smile.

I know what she means by that. She's worried that I'm going to be in pain if I move. To tell the truth, I'm in so much pain, I'm not sure that it would matter if I move. So, I roll from sitting onto a laying position and then pull myself into the waiting flaps of the sleeping bag.

I'm wrong. I'm in enormous pain after moving.

Katniss doesn't say anything, but I know she's asking for permission to make to covers tucked in. I nod my head and she tucks me into the sleeping bag. She avoids my injured leg.

Katniss reaches over me and reach into an open pack. I'm not paying attention to what she's doing; I'm paying attention to the way the fabric of her shirt catches the sunlight even in the darkest part of the cave. I notice the way her eyes not only focus on what she's doing inside the bag, but are searching all over the cave for dangers.

I can feel something in my mouth and then the bottle of water was at my lips, pushing water into my mouth. Katniss holds the back of my head and her eyes look concerned and worried. Her eyes are locked on mine, searching for any warnings or any emotion. I force my eyes to look blank.

Then as soon as the water came, it left. The bottle of water is slowly removed from my lips and put to the side. Katniss reaches over me and rummages around in the bag again, and after a few seconds she's holding a bag of dried fruit on front of me. She pulls out a dried apple and holds it out to me. I just shake my head no. I'm sure that if I eat a single thing it would come right up. I don't want her to see that.

I just lay in the sleeping bag, thinking back to the long days I sat through, waiting for death, or someone to save me. It's after was a few minutes of complete silence and no movement when Katniss stood. My eyes follow her as she left the cave to go outside.

My heart is feeling like it's about to explode. The only thing running through my mind is ' _Did she leave me?'_ Deep down, I know she won't, but that buried. The only thing I can think of is her leaving me to die.

But all of my wild thoughts slow when she returns. She's carrying two armfuls of vines and leaves. She drops them beside me and starts to weave them together.

I watch contently as her fingers braid and weave the vines together, blending them as best she can. Seconds turn to a minute and the single minute blend together with minutes. After a few times of weaving and un-weaving the blind of vines Katniss gave up. She throws it to the opposite corner of the cave. I watch as she puts her head in her hands and stand up. She walks to the mouth of the cave and looks out into the slowly descending darkness.

I think of the other tributes out in the woods, probably just looking for Katniss. The Careers are just waiting for her to appear to them. I worry. She's standing in the open mouth of the cave, unprotected and I'm just laying here, not doing a thing for her.

"Katniss," I say. Katniss turns towards me and walks up to me. She kneels to the side of my head, and she brushes my hair out of my eyes. I feel sparks from where her fingers connect with my burning forehead. "Thanks for finding me."

I was so worried about if Katniss didn't find me. I was in so much pain, and I was sure I was going to die. But now, I'm sure that I'm going to live. Just as long as she keeps taking care of me.

"You would have found me if you could," Katniss whispers. She puts her hand lightly on my cheek and then quickly on my forehead. A little frown appeared on her forehead. Her face hides all emotion, but I can read her eyes easily. I can tell she's scared. Just like me.

I'm thinking of my family back home, they're watching me die slowly, and they can't do anything to help me. I want to make sure that if I go- when I go, Katniss will win for me, no matter what. I want her to take care of my family, just until they heal.

"Yes. Look, if I don't make it back -" I begin. Katniss shakes her head fiercely.

"Don't talk like that. I didn't drain all that pus for nothing," Katniss says. I tell that she's trying to make a joke, trying to make me smile. I smile to make her feel better. I smile through the pain.

"I know. But just in case I don't -" I try to continue. Katniss shakes her head again. Her fingers run over my neck, and her other hand takes my hand. I feel myself relax the slightest bit.

"No, Peeta, I don't even want to discuss it," Katniss whispers. She moves her fingers from my neck and places them gently on my lips to stop me from talking. But I don't have it; I don't have any of it.

"But I -" I start to say.

Katniss' eyes fill with tears and she quickly lean forwards and kisses me, stopping me mid-sentence.

All I can think about is the way her lips move so surely, like she's done this millions of times before. Her lips are perfectly warm, and they aren't forceful. I've imagined this moment a million times before, but I never could have imagined how perfectly soft her lips are, or how sweet her scent smelled.

My head is filled with clouds, and my stomach is filled with flying butterflies. How pathetic, yet I am content with my reaction. If it was anything less, I would be disappointed.

Her fingers sweep across the top of my head lightly, almost as if she's afraid to touch too hard and shatter me. I do my best to lean into her hold.

Katniss breaks away after a few seconds and looks down at me. A groan of disappointment is at the tip of my tongue – I didn't want it to end.

She pulls the sleeping bag up around me, and her eyes connect with mine. Once again, my heart skips a beat. Her kind gestures make my heart melt, yet her piercing eyes make my heart rate escalate. She has a strange effect on my body.

"You're not going to die. I forbid it. All right?" Katniss whispers, tucking a piece of my muddy hair behind my ear.

"All right," I whisper back.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm saying. My head is still to foggy to process anything. Maybe it was luck that I was drawn for The Hunger Games. I think I'm madly, heart-stoppingly, amazingly, truly in love with her. I just hope that she's taken with me too.

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 **I still love Peeta and his innocent relationship with Katniss.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading!**

 **Review please! I love reading feedback! It's my favourite part of my day!**

 **~Pawpritner**

 **xxx**


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